THE ISSUE:
Texas Federal Judge rules on transgender rights, Title IX case
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas and four other Republican-led states filed another lawsuit Tuesday seeking to roll back the Obama administration's efforts to strengthen transgender rights, saying new federal nondiscrimination health rules could force doctors to act contrary to their medical judgment or religious beliefs. The lawsuit is the second in recent months in which conservative states have sued over federal efforts to defend transgender rights.
The federal judge in Texas, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that the federal education law known as Title IX "is not ambiguous" about sex being defined as "the biological and anatomical difference between male and female students as determined at their birth."
This would apply nationwide and O'Connor said the ruling was not about the policy issues of transgender rights but about his conclusion that federal officials did not follow rules that required an opportunity for comment before directives are issued. He also argued that schools should have been allowed to weigh in before the White House mandate was announced in May.
"This case presents the difficult issue of balancing the protection of students' rights and that of personal privacy ... while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school," he wrote.
Student Reactions
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Graham Taylor, junior computer science major: “They should definitely be able to choose which one they identify with — just freedoms,” Taylor said. |
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Aleigha Mason, sophomore English literature major:
“It doesn’t surprise me because all the resistance against everything about it, so it’s not a surprise because of how many different opinions there are, it kind of sucks because they should have the rights as anyone else to feel comfortable in school to go to the bathroom,” Mason said. |
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Ashanti Brown, freshman psychology major:
“I feel like [public bathroom access] has to be based on the gender they were born with just because everyone has a different history and if a girl sees a guy in her bathroom that identifies as a guy, that might bother her — maybe [it triggers] something physiological in her brain, like she might have gotten raped when she was younger,” Brown said. “It just bothers different people different ways so that’s the only reason why it should be with the gender you were born with.” |
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Delanie Jackson, sophomore social work major:
“I believe that [transgender students should have public bathroom access] because they’re actually changing their gender,” Jackson said. “I feel like there’s a difference between cross dressers and transgenders so I feel like it should be determined by what they truly feel on the inside.” |
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Josh Prybylla, sophomore pre-med/biology major:
“I would say [the issue] should be dealt with at a state level, not a national level because it’s just some states … they see things differently,” Prybylla said. “It would be easier for them to handle it themselves rather than the national government just saying ‘you have to do this.’” |
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Kaleb Marr, freshman telecommunication major:
“I’m not surprised, but I don’t agree with them. I don’t know, the way I perceive this country is kind of asshole-ish I guess,” Marr said. “If they’re going to identify as that then I just don’t see really a problem with them using the bathroom that they identified with.” |
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